Okada Fumiko

I am a housewife. I still remember the times I was a University student when I demonstrated against the American war in the Indochina region. Afterwards, I watched the raising of the communists in Vietnam and was shocked by the situation of the Boat People. At the beginning of the "doi moi" economic policy I expected the coming of an equalitarian and democratic system, but the information we got in Japan was quite different, so I decided to visit Vietnam. Although people talked to me about cheap prices and good tourist attractions, my interest was the common life of the people.

In Ho Chi Minh City I paid a visit to some self-supported programs for people in the slums. Vietnamese young volunteers working in district 4 and 5 brought us in the back of their motorbikes through labyrinth narrow streets to meet with the women and children living in the slums. I thought I had entered a different world. The first person I met was a man who had had an accident on a road and could hardly walk. You could see the open wounds in his feet. Unable to work any more he could not pay his room and was in danger of being expelled. His image was always present in my heart.

Our volunteer friend showed us several rooms where the slum people were living. They were small and crowded. The families, in order to afford to pay the rents had to collect garbage, to sell something in the street or if not to beg, but there was no work available. They had to leave everything, the food of that day and their daily lives to their fate. The place we visited was organized as a community and was in a better position that most slums.

They had "invaded" the land that was public property and, as a result, they had no rights as citizens. Consequently, their children could not go to school and no matter the injustices they had to go through, they could not appeal to the authorities. Nevertheless, the volunteers assist them to find legal loopholes and help them to open small business by lending them little money. All the women that gathered around us highly appreciated the activities of the volunteers' group. Another important educational activity there are AIDS prevention programs especially for sex workers. Several girls have stopped prostitution and started new lives. The volunteers are trained to provide guide and counseling also.

I experienced during my visit there that, no matter the very hard situation and life difficulties of the people they were courageous enough. Certainly, the situation looks hopeless, but the people, especially the women, did not dispel their hope. Women work hard, "women are able to change society."